Accelerated Life Test - Explained
What is an Accelerated Life Test?
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 21st, 2024
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What is an Accelerated Life Test (ALT)?
Accelerated life testing is the process of running various tests on a product that exaggerates the loads that would normally be put on it. The goal to see which parameters of the product (stress, strain, temperatures, voltage, vibration rate, etc) when tested could cause failure.
When to Use an Accelerated Life Test (ALT)
Typically, researchers will analyze the life span of a device under normal conditions. This data is then used to quantify the product life cycle and make generalized predictions on all of the devices based off of a small sample.
Accelerated life testing will allow data to be collected faster than normal methods, using accelerated load conditions instead of normal loads.
Accelerated tests can be qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative tests (HALT, HAST, torsion test) are used to figure out failures that engineers can improve through product design.
Quantitative tests (QALT) are what generate the data for life span data. This method essentially relies on the probability density function to estimate product life span under normal conditions of use.